“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” God’s creation marked the beginning of all time.

Happy New Year! Each year we mark the beginning of a new year by celebrating and wishing everyone a blessed and happy new year.

I wonder what God was thinking as He created the heavens and the earth? Was He thinking about all the pain these people whom He is creating in His image would cause for Him and His Son? Was He thinking about how He would have to destroy the whole earth with a flood, except one little family? Was He thinking about how His very own Son would be treated by these pompous people who rejected His Son as divine? Was He thinking about all the wars started by prideful people who could not get along among nations and among families?

Or, was He thinking about the love relationship He would have with his people? The communication with people created in His image? The joy He would feel when one sinful person turned to Him in simple faith and trust? The joy He would feel to grant requests made by His people? The joy when His followers would come to heaven to live with Him eternally?

We know that God had us on His mind from before the creation of the world. “…He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him…” (Ephesians 1:4 ESV). I don’t know what He was thinking at the inception of creation, but I do know that He is a God of love and the originator of love. “God is love….In this is love, not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” (1 John 4:8,10). And, “We love because he first loved us.” (1 John 4:19) Our love is the result of His love. He looks on us with love, and everything He does is out of love.

As I look forward to a new year, I don’t know what God knows. I don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow, let alone this summer or next winter; but I do know this, I can always trust in God to hold me in the palm of His hand.

In his last words to Israel before they went to claim Canaan, Moses encouraged the people by saying, “Be strong and courageous…It is the Lord who goes before you. He will be with you; He will not leave you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.’ (Deuteronomy 31:7,8 ESV) We can claim that promise today as we look forward to the unknown new year. The same God who was with the Israelites going into the unknown Canaan, is the God today who continues to encourage and strengthen those who put their trust in Him for their eternal lives and for their daily lives today. This same God who is love itself and does everything out of love, will go before us to lead the way. We can trust Him.

God be with you in this new year of 2023!